Chapter 04

"Thanks for the clothes," Danny said after he pulled on the T-shirt that Vlad gave him.

"It's nothing," Vlad said, shrugging from where he sat at his desk as he highlighted a few important passages in his book. "It's not like you could borrow any of Jack's clothes."

"Well, I could have, but I wouldn't want my clothes falling down every five seconds," Danny joked with a grin. It fell flat when Vlad continued to sit with his back toward Danny. "I guess I'll leave you to your studying." He climbed into Vlad's bed, but when he lay down to sleep, he noticed how loudly Jack was snoring. "How do you ever fall asleep with him as a roommate?"

"It takes a long time to get used to." After closing his book, Vlad switched off the light and walked over to his bed. "Earplugs help too."

Danny chuckled at that as he moved aside to give Vlad room to lie down. "Earplugs would come in handy right about now."

"He got away without studying again," mumbled Vlad irritably as he sighed. "Yet he'll still manage to get straight B minuses. It pisses me off sometimes."

"Do you get mad at Jack often?" Danny asked curiously. He rolled onto his side and propped his head up with one arm.

"Only when he does something really stupid." Vlad turned to face Danny. "But he always manages to do something to get me to forgive him. I'm really not sure how he does that."

That all changes in the future, thought Danny with a frown. If he hadn't gotten so obsessed with my mom, maybe he and my dad would still be friends. As he considered how that might affect his life, Vlad as a friend to the family rather than an enemy, he liked the idea. Well, I'm probably going to be stuck here for a while. I'll need to figure out how far along they are with the Proto Portal somehow so that I know how much time I'm going to be spending here. He glanced at Vlad, who stared back with an expectant look. "I'm sorry. Did you say something?"

"You space out just like Jack," murmured Vlad, shaking his head. "Jack and I have early classes tomorrow. You're free to do whatever you want, of course. Unfortunately, we don't have an extra key to let you borrow."

"If I do go out, I guess I can just wait for you or Jack to return," Danny said. "Would it bother you if I sat in on your Calc class again?"

"So your interest in furthering your knowledge was genuine," said Vlad as a small smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth. "I'd be happy to tutor you. But for now, good night." He rolled onto his other side.

Danny lay down with his back toward Vlad. He curled up on the bed trying to get comfortable, but he found it difficult. The last time he shared a bed with another boy, it was at Tucker's house and they were eight at the time. After putting as much distance between him and Vlad as possible, he started to doze off. However, he was jerked awake a moment later when Vlad's arm smacked him on the head. Between Jack's loud snores and Vlad's unconscious attacks, Danny received little sleep that night.

That couch is starting to look a lot better right now, thought Danny after Vlad kicked him in the back. Does Vlad even realize he's such a restless sleeper? He sighed as he stared into the darkness of the room. I guess I'm going to be here for some time. He winced when he received another blow from the sleeper next to him. While I'm here, I could try setting Vlad up with someone. But how would that affect the future? He thought on that for a while, weighing different scenarios of altered futures in his head. Well, my parents are already a couple, so nothing will stop them from getting married and having Jazz and me. As long as I don't do anything to change what happens during the accident, that is. So it should be okay if I get Vlad a date. And if I'm lucky, he'll stop being so obsessed with my mom. After some time, he finally fell asleep. When he woke up again, the sun shone brightly through the window with its curtains thrown wide open. Groaning, Danny sat up as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Jack and Vlad already left for their classes.

"Please tell me the Proto Portal will be finished soon," Danny begged the empty room. "I don't think I can survive on only a few hours of sleep." But how am I supposed to find out about their progress on the Proto Portal? he wondered as he climbed out of bed. I can't just ask them about it out of the blue. I mean, my dad might be willing to blather on about it. But what if they haven't even started building it yet? I can't suggest something that may alter the future greatly. He began the search for something to wear. His own clothes were lost among the dirty clothes thrown in one corner of the room. He found clean jeans and a shirt on Vlad's side of the closet. After getting dressed, Danny stared at the pile of dirty clothes. "Maybe I should do their laundry."

Danny searched the room, and after stubbing his toe on the desk's leg, he discovered the pile of clothes hid a basket. So they hadn't just been randomly throwing their laundry in one corner, he thought as he freed the basket from the clothes. While he was separating them into lights and darks, he heard his stomach growl loudly in hunger. I guess I should eat something first, he thought and walked around the couch. When he flopped down on it, he got his first real whiff of how bad the strange smell was. I am definitely not sleeping on this couch, he thought, holding a hand to his nose.

They hadn't finished all of the Chinese, so there were still plenty of leftovers for Danny to choose from to have for breakfast. He ate the last two egg rolls and half a box of fried rice. Sitting back, he planned to relax for a while; then he noticed a note on the table with a key on top. He picked up the note and read it.

Danny,

I figured you wouldn't want to be locked up all day, so I'm leaving a key for you. I'll be returning late tonight anyway.

Jack

"Dad's going to be out late? That's suspicious," mumbled Danny, dropping the note back on the table. He stood up and pocketed the key before he returned to separating the laundry. After that was completed with the lights in the basket and the darks still in a pile in the corner, Danny left the room with the first load of laundry. He walked down a few steps before he realized that he didn't know where exactly Laundromat was, if the building even had one. He noticed a woman at the bottom of the stairs. She held a basket of clothes in her arms.

"Hey!" Danny called out as he jogged down the steps to meet her. The woman turned to face him as he approached. "Do you think you could show me to the Laundromat?"

"Sure," answered the woman, smiling at Danny. She glanced at his basket. "You don't have any laundry detergent? I guess you're new to the whole do your own laundry thing, huh?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess you could say that," mumbled Danny as he blushed. He learned to do his laundry, but it slipped his mind to check his dad's room for laundry detergent. "I'm Danny," he said as he followed the woman down the stairs.

"Laura," said the woman. She had a nice smile, though her looks were quite plain. Her long brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She wore sweats, since the rest of her clothes were dirty. "I've never seen you here before. Are you new here?"

"Yeah, I'm staying with some friends. I thought doing their laundry would be a good start of showing my thanks," Danny replied. How exactly do I go about asking a girl out for Vlad? he wondered, feeling awkward at the thought.

"Nothing says thanks like clean underwear," said Laura as she opened the door to the building's Laundromat. "I'm still working off a favor for one of my friends." She set her basket on a table; then she turned to stare at Danny. She opened her mouth, hesitated, and shook her head.

"What is it?" Danny asked, noticing the action as he opened the door to one of the washing machines.

"I was just thinking that perhaps we could help each other work off our debts to our friends."

"How do you mean?" asked Danny as he gave the woman a puzzled look.

"Well," Laura said slowly. Grinning, she walked over to where Danny stood. "I thought that we could set our friends up on a date." She was a few inches shorter than Danny and had to look up at him as she blinked brown eyes.

Danny stepped back and stumbled over the basket at the feet. Laura grabbed Danny's arm. With a tug, she stopped him from falling over backward. However, when he collided with the woman, Danny accidentally tackled her to the ground.

"S-Sorry!" stuttered Danny, blushing madly when he noticed one of his hands had landed on the woman's breast. He shot up into a kneeling position and snapped his hand away.

"Man!" exclaimed someone standing in the doorway. Danny looked up to see a dark haired woman. She dressed in tight pants and a sports bra with a loose sweatshirt that hung off her shoulder, like she just returned from working out at the gym. "Why is it every time I come in here, there's always some couple making out?" The question made Danny blush darker as he climbed off the woman.

"You just have very bad timing, Sara," replied Laura. She took the hand that Danny offered and allowed him to help her to her feet.

"So who's your new friend?" Sara asked, staring at Danny.

"This is Danny," replied Laura as she hooked her arm around Danny's arm. "And we were just discussing the possibility of going on a double date."

"You aren't trying to set me up on a blind date, are you?" Sara glared at her friend.

Laura released Danny and walked over to her friend. Danny frowned as he watched the two women whisper to each other.

"Sara agreed," announced Laura as she turned toward Danny. "So talk to your friend, and if he agrees, meet us here." She took a piece of paper and a pen from Sara and scribbled down the name of a bar. She handed the paper to Danny. "Let's meet around, say, nine, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," replied Danny as he pocketed the paper. Is it sad that I have better luck with women in the eighties than I have with women in my own time? he thought dryly. On the bright side, getting Vlad a date wasn't hard. Now I just hope that he likes her.